My Best Promotion
Welcome to My Best Promotion, the newest section of Promo Marketing magazine. Each month, we'll be running a different promotion that the submitting distributor thinks is one of his or her best, along with product images from suppliers that fit the campaign. Think of it as a way to compare notes and share ideas with your peers, an important practice for anyone looking to improve his or her business.
This month's My Best Promotion comes from Mike Beckman, CAS, owner of Proforma-BPM, Cumming, Ga. Beckman chose an instance where Proforma-BPM decided to take a risk and go with a less conventional, non-USB item for for a large I.T. client that wanted something to hand out at a trade show. Through an e-mail to Promo Marketing, Beckman explained why this promotion ended up being one of his best.
Promo Marketing: Could you describe a promotion of yours that you consider one of your best?
Mike Beckman: A large I.T. company came to us to request a giveaway for a technology conference and asked for a "techie" item since this was the main group focus. We asked a few questions about the conference and thought a "techie" item would get lost in the crowd. The main focus was based on a new technology called "cloud computing," and [we] thought it would be great to work off this theme. When you think of clouds you think rain—bad clouds equal rain, good clouds are white. We thought it would be great to hand out white umbrellas with the company logo and to add a card that instills confidence in our client's cloud service. "We put the cloud on your side—no matter what the conditions." The card tied the umbrella to their motto, and of course people easily put an umbrellas with clouds.
PM: What was the promotion's goal, and what did you do to make it happen?
MB: The goal for the client was to drive people to their booth and website to learn more about their cloud services. The attached card to the umbrella had an invitation to learn more and their website.
PM: What made this a good promotion for you?
MB: The client was ecstatic that they were the only company not handing out a USB drive and had a majority of the crowd at their booth. Web hits to their site more than tripled a day after the show, demonstrating the impact the cards and umbrella had in driving people to their site and services.
PM: What was the best decision you made with this program? What, if any, was the worst?
MB: The best decision was that we chose a product that was [off] the radar for most companies. People tend to be too narrow in their choices for giveaways and uncomfortable in stepping away from that approach. Our client was willing to take that leap and was rewarded for doing so. The worst decision was simply not having them order more umbrellas. The order was for 500 and there were 1,000 people registered—they ran out of umbrellas the beginning of the second day of the two-day conference.
PM: Did you run into any problems with the promotion, and if so, how did you overcome them?
MB: The main concern was how to add the cards to the umbrellas. We had to drop-ship the umbrellas to the show due to this being a last-minute decision to attend the conference. We simply sent them a hole punch and two bags of large colored rubber bands to loop through the handles. This worked out very nicely and was easy for their booth personnel to do on their own before the show.
PM: Any other advice or insight you'd like to give related to this promotion?
MB: Don't look at the obvious when choosing a product to hand out. We tend to get into a groove and use the same product all the time for different clients. Look at the message and develop a theme to get their meaning across in a more memorable manner.
Want to be considered for a future segment of My Best Promotion? Contact Michael Cornnell at mcornnell@napco.com or (215) 238-5449 for a list of questions and other details.